Dark Forces Searches at KLOE-2

Direct searches of dark matter are performed at accelerator facilities. The existence of a new vector boson has been postulated in different scenarios where in the most basic scheme the coupling to the SM can be achieved via a kinetic mixing term due to the U boson. The KLOE experiment at DA$\phi$NE searched for the U boson both in Dalitz decays of the $\phi$ meson and in continuum events. For all of these searches an upper limit for the U boson coupling $\epsilon^{2}$ has been established in the mass range $50 \, \text{MeV} < m_U < 1000\,\text{MeV}$. A summary of the different models and searches along with results are presented.Comment: Acta Phys. Polon. B 201

KLOE/KLOE-2 results and perspectives on dark force search

During the last years several Dark Sector Models have been proposed in order to address striking astrophysical observations which fail standard interpretations. In the minimal case a new vector particle, the so called dark photon or U-boson, is introduced, with small coupling with Standard Model particles. Also, the existence of a dark Higgs boson h’ is postulated, in analogy with the Standard Model, to give mass to the U-boson through the Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking mechanism. The experiment KLOE, working on the DAΦNE e+e- collider in Frascati, searched for the existence of the U-boson in a quite complete way, investigating several different processes and final states. Tight limits on the model parameters have been set at 90%CL. Further improvements are expected in terms of sensitivity and discovery potential with the new KLOE-2 detector working on the improved DAFNE e+e- collider

Physics beyond the standard model with the J-PET detector

The Positronium (Ps) system, a bound state of an electron and a positron, is suitable for testing the predictions of quantum electrodynamics (QED), since its properties can be perturbatively calculated to high accuracy and, unlike the hydrogen system, is not affected by finite size or QCD effects at the current experimental precision level. This makes the Ps atom a good laboratory to test the Fundamental Symmetries of Physics and also search for new particles not included in the Standard Model (SM) of physics. On one hand, time reversal (T) and CP symmetry violation have never been observed in pure leptonic systems like the Ps atom, and the current experimental limits for CP and CPT violation in the decays of Ps is currently set at the level of 10$^{-3}$, while for C violation are at the level of 10$^{-7}$. These limits are still six and two orders of magnitude lower than the expected precision of 10$^{-9}$ set by photon-photon interactions. Secondly, experiments searching for invisible decays of the Ps triplet state, the ortho-Positronium (o-Ps), which mainly decays to three photons, are being conducted, since they are sensitive to new physics scenarios, e.g. Mirror Matter (MM), a suitable Dark Matter candidate, proposed to restore parity (P) violation. By performing a high precision measurement of the o-Ps lifetime, the accuracy of the present QED calculations can be tested and a search for the invisible decays of the o-Ps can be performed. These studies are conducted with the novel total-body Positron-Electron Tomograph (PET) scanner at the Jagiellonian University. The J-PET is a large and high precise medical imaging tool, based on the plastic scintillators. It is a high acceptance multi-purpose detector optimized for the detection of photons from positron-electron annihilation and can be used in a broad scope of interdisciplinary investigation, e.g. medical imaging, life-time measurements, quantum entanglement studies with o-Ps, and tests of discrete symmetries

Physics beyond the standard model with the J-PET detector

The Positronium (Ps) system, a bound state of an electron and a positron, is suitable for testing the predictions of quantum electrodynamics (QED), since its properties can be perturbatively calculated to high accuracy and, unlike the hydrogen system, is not affected by finite size or QCD effects at the current experimental precision level. This makes the Ps atom a good laboratory to test the Fundamental Symmetries of Physics and also search for new particles not included in the Standard Model (SM) of physics. On one hand, time reversal (T) and CP symmetry violation have never been observed in pure leptonic systems like the Ps atom, and the current experimental limits for CP and CPT violation in the decays of Ps is currently set at the level of 10$^{-3}$, while for C violation are at the level of 10$^{-7}$. These limits are still six and two orders of magnitude lower than the expected precision of 10$^{-9}$ set by photon-photon interactions. Secondly, experiments searching for invisible decays of the Ps triplet state, the ortho-Positronium (o-Ps), which mainly decays to three photons, are being conducted, since they are sensitive to new physics scenarios, e.g. Mirror Matter (MM), a suitable Dark Matter candidate, proposed to restore parity (P) violation. By performing a high precision measurement of the o-Ps lifetime, the accuracy of the present QED calculations can be tested and a search for the invisible decays of the o-Ps can be performed. These studies are conducted with the novel total-body Positron-Electron Tomograph (PET) scanner at the Jagiellonian University. The J-PET is a large and high precise medical imaging tool, based on the plastic scintillators. It is a high acceptance multi-purpose detector optimized for the detection of photons from positron-electron annihilation and can be used in a broad scope of interdisciplinary investigation, e.g. medical imaging, life-time measurements, quantum entanglement studies with o-Ps, and tests of discrete symmetries

Mirror matter searches with the J-PET detector

The positronium system — a bound state of an electron and a positron — is suitable for testing the predictions of quantum electrodynamics, since its properties can be perturbatively calculated to high accuracy and, unlike the hydrogen system, it is not affected by the finite size or quantum chromodynamics effects at the current level of experimental precision. Experiments searching for invisible decays of the positronium triplet state — the ortho-positronium — which mainly decays to three photons, are being conducted since they are sensitive to new physics scenarios, e.g., mirror matter, milli-charged particles, and extra space-time dimensions. The particular case of mirror matter and its search with the novel total-body positron emission tomography scanner at the Jagiellonian University is presented. This J-PET is a large, high precision medical imaging tool based on plastic scintillators

The KLOE-2 experiment at DAΦNE

The KLOE-2 Collaboration succesfully ended its data-taking collecting a total integrated luminosity of 5.5 fb−1 at the peak of the φ(1020) resonance at the DAΦNE collider of the Frascati LNF. New detectors have been added to the KLOE apparatus to improve the detector acceptance, the tracking capability, and also to be able to tag the scattered electrons in γγ processes. By summing the new data sample to the old one of the previous KLOE data-taking ended in 2006, a total of about 8 fb−1 has been collected, corresponding to 24 billions of φ produced. The measurement program of KLOE-2 includes precision studies on kaon and other light mesons, hadronic cross-section, and dark force searches

Encounters with di-baryons - from the ABC effect to a new resonance?

The ABC effect, an intriguing low-mass enhancement in the $\pi\pi$ invariant mass spectrum, is known from inclusive measurements of two-pion production in nuclear fusion reactions to the few-body systems d, $^{3}$He and $^{4}$He. It was first observed 1960 by Abashian, Booth and Crowe in the inclusive pd $\to$ $^{3}$He X reaction. Its explanation has been a puzzle since then. In an effort to solve this long-standing problem by exclusive and kinematically complete high-statistics experiments, we have measured the fusion reactions to d, $^{3}$He and $^{4}$He with WASA-at-COSY. These measurements cover the full energy region, where the ABC effect has been observed previously in inclusive reactions. In a recent kinematically complete measurement of the $pn \to d\pi ^{0}\pi ^{0}$ reaction we have shown that the ABC effect in this basic double-pionic fusion reaction is correlated with a narrow structure in the total cross section with quantum numbers I(J$^{P}$) = 0(3$^{+}$), a mass of 2.37 GeV and a width of about 70 MeV. The mass is about 90 MeV below 2 times the mass of $\Delta$, the mass of a $\Delta\Delta$ system, and the width is three times narrower than expected from a conventional t-channel $\Delta\Delta$ process. In the double-pionic fusion reaction to the helium isotope $dd \to ^{4}$He$\pi ^{0}\pi ^{0}$ again the ABC effect is observed to be correlated with the appearance of a resonance-like structure in the total cross section at the same excess energy. From a previous exclusive experiment at CELSIUS-WASA it is known that the double-pionic fusion to $^{3}$He also exhibits a pronunced ABC effect. New data from COSY on the $pd \to ^{3}$He$\pi ^{0}\pi ^{0}$ reaction scanning the full ABC region are presented as well as the status of measurements in other reaction channels, where the new resonance might contribute

From tests of discrete symmetries to medical imaging with J-PET detector

We present results on CPT symmetry tests in decays of positronium performed with the precision at the level of 10$^{-4}$, and positronium images determined with the prototype of the J-PET tomograph. The first full-scale prototype apparatus consists of 192 plastic scintillator strips readout from both ends with vacuum tube photomultipliers. Signals produced by photomultipliers are probed in the amplitude domain and are digitized by FPGA-based readout boards in triggerless mode. In this contribution we report on the first two- and three-photon positronium images and tests of CPT symmetry in positronium decays

ProTheRaMon : a GATE simulation framework for proton therapy range monitoring using PET imaging

Objective. This paper reports on the implementation and shows examples of the use of the ProTheRaMon framework for simulating the delivery of proton therapy treatment plans and range monitoring using positron emission tomography (PET). ProTheRaMon offers complete processing of proton therapy treatment plans, patient CT geometries, and intra-treatment PET imaging, taking into account therapy and imaging coordinate systems and activity decay during the PET imaging protocol specific to a given proton therapy facility. We present the ProTheRaMon framework and illustrate its potential use case and data processing steps for a patient treated at the Cyclotron Centre Bronowice (CCB) proton therapy center in Krakow, Poland. Approach. The ProTheRaMon framework is based on GATE Monte Carlo software, the CASToR reconstruction package and in-house developed Python and bash scripts. The framework consists of five separated simulation and data processing steps, that can be further optimized according to the user’s needs and specific settings of a given proton therapy facility and PET scanner design. Main results. ProTheRaMon is presented using example data from a patient treated at CCB and the J-PET scanner to demonstrate the application of the framework for proton therapy range monitoring. The output of each simulation and data processing stage is described and visualized. Significance. We demonstrate that the ProTheRaMon simulation platform is a high-performance tool, capable of running on a computational cluster and suitable for multi-parameter studies, with databases consisting of large number of patients, as well as different PET scanner geometries and settings for range monitoring in a clinical environment. Due to its modular structure, the ProTheRaMon framework can be adjusted for different proton therapy centers and/or different PET detector geometries. It is available to the community via github (Borys et al 2022)